SHOPPING couldn’t be easier these days.

With the click of a button or the swipe of a smartphone, we can buy virtually anything ­— often snapping up bargains on the way.

Whether it is a house, car, furniture, toys, clothes or food, it can be purchased in seconds and delivered anywhere in the world.

With so many traders offering similar products, companies are trying to find new ways to steal an edge on the competition.

This is often in the way products are delivered, such as same-day parcels, goods being sent to convenient locations such as supermarkets for collection ­— and even by drone.

As we have heard from reports from the high street over Christmas, the success of online shopping has hit conventional traders hard.

But in this day of world-wide choice and instant shopping, Bolton Market is thriving.

Over Christmas, it welcomed its highest number of shoppers for 25 years and is regarded as one of the premier food markets in the north west.

During the festive period, it sold 8,000 turkeys and 4,000 mince pies and attracted customers with its range of fresh meat, fish and food and veg, as well as stalls offering frozen and prepared goods.

There might not be Amazon drones or collection points, but it is a traditional market where you can meet and deal with real people and buy top-quality produce.

There is a fantastic atmosphere and offers something different .